1. Field of the Disclosure
The embodiments described herein relate to a forend for a firearm that includes a sight tunnel that permits the shooter to view a front sight through the forend. The forend may be adapted to be positioned on a shotgun and moved to insert a shell from a tube magazine into a receiver of the shotgun. The forend may include an integral heat shield positioned over the barrel of the firearm. The forend may include a rail positioned above the sight tunnel to permit the attachment of an accessory, such as a light that may be used to light up the front sight and/or to light up a target.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a prior art semi-auto shotgun 5 that includes a butt stock 35 connected to one end of a receiver 40. A barrel 20 and a magazine tube 10 are connected to the other end of the receiver 40. A front bead sight 50 is positioned on top of the barrel 20 at the muzzle end of the barrel 20. An operator of the shotgun 5 may be able to view a potential target along a sight path (shown as arrow 70) along the top of the receiver 40 and barrel 20 to line up the potential target using the sight 50 at the end of the barrel 20. The movement of a forend/pump 30 along the magazine tube 10 may be used to actuate the magazine tube 10 to insert a shell into the receiver 40 as would be recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art.
The semi-auto shotgun 5 may include a heat shield 60 positioned over the entire length of a significant portion of the length of the barrel 20. Heat shields 60 may be used to protect the user from the heat given off from the barrel 20 due to repeated rapid discharge of the shotgun and/or to change the appearance of the shotgun 5 to have a more tactical nature. Heat shields 60 may be an after-market addition to a firearm and as a result may difficult for a user to install onto the firearm. In addition to being difficult to install, the recoil of the firearm may cause the heat shield 60 to become loose and/or change the handling of the firearm. The long length of the heat shield 60 may cause a change in the recoil of the firearm.
The addition of a low profile heat shield 60 may not affect the sight path 70 of a traditional semi-auto shotgun 5. However, the addition of other accessories, such as a light, to the top of the shotgun may potentially block the sight path 70 from the receiver 40 to the front sight 50. As a result any such accessories may be attached beneath the shotgun 5, which may not be optimal. For example, a light positioned below the shotgun 5 will not light up the front sight 50, which may be preferred.